1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a processing device and a method of operating the device for processing a coated or uncoated fibrous web, such as e.g. paper, board or tissue, comprising a belt adapted to extend around at least one guiding element, at least one counter-element being disposed outside said belt to provide a contact area with the belt, such that the belt and the counter-element establish therebetween a web processing zone for passing a web to be processed therethrough. In the concept of this application, the term ‘web processing’ refers to a variety of measures associated with the treatment of a fibrous web produced in a paper/board machine, such as pressing, drying, calendering, coating, sizing. The processing device may also be a finishing device for a fibrous web, such as e.g. a separate coating device, a printing device or a calender.
2. Description of Related Art
Various belt calender solutions have been disclosed previously e.g. in Finnish patent 95061, as well as in Finnish patent applications FI 971343 and FI 20001025. However, these belt calenders are only suitable for calendering certain grades of paper or board.
Paper and board are available in a wide variety of types and can be divided according to basis weight in two grades: papers with a single ply and a basis weight of 25-300 g/m2 and boards manufactured in multi-ply technology and having a basis weight of 150-600 g/m2. It should be noted that the borderline between paper and board is flexible since board grades with lightest basis weights are lighter than the heaviest paper grades. Generally speaking, paper is used for printing and board for packaging.
The subsequent descriptions are examples of values presently applied for fibrous webs, and there may be considerable fluctuations from the disclosed values. The descriptions are mainly based on the source publication Papermaking Science and Technology, section Papermaking Part 3, edited by Jokio, M., published by Fapet Oy, Jyväskylä 1999, 361 pages.
Mechanical-pulp based, i.e. wood-containing printing papers include newsprint, uncoated magazine and coated magazine paper.
Newsprint is composed either completely of mechanical pulp or may contain some bleached softwood pulp (0-15%) and/or recycled fiber to replace some of the mechanical pulp. General values for newsprint can probably be regarded as follows: basis weight 40-48.8 g/m2, ash content (SCAN-P 5:63) 0-20%, PPS s10 roughness (SCAN-P 76-95) 3.0-4.5 μm, Bendtsen roughness (SCAN-P 21:67) 100-200 ml/min, density 600-750 kg/m3, brightness (ISO 2470:1999) 57-63%, and opacity (ISO 2470:1998) 90-96%.
Uncoated magazine paper (SC=supercalendered) usually contains mechanical pulp to 50-70%, bleached softwood pulp to 10-25%, and fillers to 15-30%. Typical values for calendered SC paper (containing e.g. SC-C, SC-B, and SC-A/A+) include basis weight 40-60 g/m2, ash content (SCAN-P 5:63) 0-35%, Hunter gloss (ISO/DIS 8254/1) <20-50%, PPS s10 roughness (SCAN-P 76:95) 1.0-2.5 μm, density 700-1250 kg/m3, brightness (ISO 2470:1999) 62-70%, and opacity (ISO 2470:1998) 90-95%.
Coated magazine paper (LWC=light weight coated) contains mechanical pulp to 40-60%, bleached softwood pulp to 25-40%, and fillers and coaters to 20-35%. General values for LWC paper can be regarded as follows: basis weight 40-70 g/m2, Hunter gloss 50-65%, PPS s10 roughness 0.8-1.5 μm (offset) and 0.6-1.0 μm (roto), density 1100-1250 kg/m3, brightness 70-75%, and opacity 89-94%.
General values for MFC paper (machine finished coated) can be regarded as follows: basis weight 50-70 g/m2, Hunter gloss 25-70%, PPS s10 roughness 2.2-2.8 μm, density 900-950 kg/m3, brightness 70-75%, and opacity 91-95%.
General values for FCO paper (film coated offset) can be regarded as follows: basis weight 40-70 g/m2, Hunter gloss 45-55%, PPS s10 roughness 1.5-2.0 μm, density 1000-1050 kg/m3, brightness 70-75%, and opacity 91-95%.
General values for MWC paper (medium weight coated) can be regarded as follows: basis weight 70-90 g/m2, Hunter gloss 65-75%, PPS s10 roughness 0.6-1.0 μm, density 1150-1250 kg/m3, brightness 70-75%, and opacity 89-94%.
HWC (heavy weight coated) has a basis weight of 100-135 g/m2 and can be coated even more than twice.
Pulp-produced, woodfree printing papers or fine papers include uncoated—and coated—pulp-based printing papers, in which the portion of mechanical pulp is less than 10%.
Uncoated pulp-based printing papers (WFU) contains bleached birchwood pulp to 55-80%, bleached softwood pulp to 0-30%, and fillers to 10-30%. The values with WFU are highly unstable: basis weight 50-90 g/m2 (up to 240 g/m2), Bendtsen roughness 250-400 ml/min, brightness 86-92%, and opacity 83-98%.
In coated pulp-based printing papers (WFC), the amounts of coating vary widely in accordance with requirements and intended application. The following are typical values for once- and twice-coated, pulp-based printing paper: once-coated basis weight 90 g/m2, Hunter gloss 65-80%, PPS s10 roughness 0.75-2.2 μm, brightness 80-88%, and opacity 91-94%, and twice-coated basis weight 130 g/m2, Hunter gloss 70-80%, PPS s10 roughness 0.65-0.95 μm, brightness 83-90%, and opacity 95-97%.
Release papers have a basis weight within the range of 25-150 g/m2.
Other papers include e.g. sackkraft papers, tissues, and wallpaper bases.
Board making makes use of chemical pulp, mechanical pulp and/or recycled pulp. Boards can be divided e.g. in the following main groups according to applications thereof.
Corrugated board, comprising a liner and a fluting.
Boxboards, used for making boxes, cases. Boxboards include e.g. liquid packaging boards (FBB=folding boxboard, LPB=liquid packaging board, WLC=white-lined chipboard, SBS=solid bleached sulphite, SUS=solid unbleached sulphite).
Graphic boards, used for making e.g. cards, files, folders, cases, covers, etc.
Wallpaper bases.